Born in London to a Mazzinian exile and the German writer Anna Lindau, she equally mastered the main European languages and cultures whose civilizations she had absorbed and internalized the salient features. While feeling akin to Anglo-Saxon pragmatism, she chose Italy as her homeland and Italian as the language in which to express her literary talent. But she never failed in her stateless and cosmopolitan vocation which remains her distinctive trait to this day
Despite this connotation of exceptional importance, that of Annie Vivanti is another name that will say little or nothing to our loyal readers, yet 100 years ago that of Annie Vivanti was a name that aroused admiration and appreciation, and not only for her novels, however much loved, but also for what he had achieved in life, for the battles he had led and for the ideals of which he had been the banner. In short, a life of all respect for her, full, intense, always lived in the first person and sometimes over the top. One of those not to be ignored.
The endorsement of the Vate
He had made his young debut, at just 24, in 1890, when he had requested a preface to his book of poems from the most prestigious, and at the same time troubled, signature available to the literary-critical world: Giosuè Carducci. The indignant poet, after meeting and getting to know the girl, hadn't been able to say no to her. And there certainly weren't many who had made it.
Merit only of the poems or also of the feeling that had unexpectedly awakened in the soul of the arrogant Maremma poet? The documents we can access would lead to this second hypothesis. But let's forget the gossip, and let's just say that what is incontrovertible is that a sincere and intense friendship is established between the two, later extended also to her husband, which will last a lifetime, both for him and for her.
Shortly after the meeting, Carducci also dedicated a fresh and vivid poem to her, which is entitled to her To Annie and begins with the famous lines:
I strike the closed door with a sprig of flowers
Glaucous and blue like your eyes, Annie.
These are the words that Annie Vivanti will want imprinted on the stone of her tomb in the monumental cemetery of Turin, as a seal of a presence that remained in her heart throughout her life, and a good 35 years after Carducci's death.
“Lirica” on Treves is released
Lyric, Vivanti's debut collection of poems, was published by the Treves Brothers, the Mondadori company at the time. In this prestigious location of a novice author there is undoubtedly the imprint of Carducci
Vivanti's collection of poems, Lyric, therefore comes out strong of the prestigious endorsement by Carducci and for the types of the main publishing house of the period, Treves.
The book arouses very positive reactions, allowing the author to enter the small group of successful authors, even if, since it is poetry, there were not many readers at the time. But today they would be even less so. Indeed, it is known that in our country poets are always more numerous than readers of poetry, then as now.
From poetry, Vivanti soon moved on to fiction, a sector in which she would demonstrate even more sublime talents, scattered in the approximately 20 novels, short stories and theatrical works that she published and which made her known and appreciated in the first decades of the twentieth century to a huge public, first international and then also national. In fact, her works come out first in English, and later also in our language.
But let's see who Annie Vivanti was.
The life
Annie Vivanti was born in London in 1866 to Anselmo Vivanti, a Mazzinian patriot who expatriated in the British capital after the riots in Mantua in 1851, and Anna Lindau, a German writer and member of an important family of artists and writers. She spent her youth following her parents, moving to various countries between Europe and the United States. As a young woman she also studied acting and singing, the latter passion that she will pass on to her daughter.
The year after his book of poems came out, in 1891, he published a novel, Marion, café concert artist, who also resurrects his youthful experiences in the world of entertainment. The novel does not go unnoticed, quite the contrary!, and after some time it will prove to be one of the most significant proofs of the writer, so much so that it is also reprinted today.
In 1892, at the age of 26, she married an Irish businessman and patriot, a passionate supporter and fighter of the cause of independence of his island from British domination. She stayed with him for twenty years between England and the United States. You write novels, short stories and plays in English, not translated into our language.
In the meantime, the couple had a daughter, Vivien, who would become, also very young, first a great hope and then an absolute certainty of the violin worldwide.
To her, to her world, to the difficult and exclusive mother-daughter relationships, the writer is inspired to compose her famous novel, The devourers, published in England in 1910 with great success and the following year in Italy with the same, if not greater, favor with the public, which can be seen in the over 150.000 copies sold in Italy alone until 1945.
The stage of great success
The novel marks the return of the writer to the literary world of our country, from which she had left for twenty years. And it is a recovery in a grand style, which would have been marked by the publication of novels and stories that mark her narrative peak. We remember Circe in 1912, Vae victis in 1917, Gypsy, in 1918, tripudians cobra and in 1920 mea culpa in 1927. They are all great best sellers, books of over 100.000 copies in the Italian edition alone, very high circulations at the time, achieved by very few other authors. And all of them are translated into the main languages of the planet, receiving a very flattering reception everywhere.
What is even more significant is that his narrative production also obtained significant recognition from critics, starting with Benedetto Croce and Giuseppe Antonio Borgese: how to say the best of the critics of the period.
A feminine writing
The themes that most inspire the writer, often originating for one reason or another from personal experiences, are those related to the female world and the environments, situations and contexts in which women find themselves living and working, or how much less to make contact.
In fact, women are the absolute protagonists of his novels: women put to the test in the difficult relationship between one generation and another, or engaged in the delicate work of raising children, or protagonists of intense passionate events. The woman is also represented as a victim of tragic and dramatic situations, a central and painful topic even today.
In short, his work covers a range of situations and contexts, albeit different ones, but united by the fact that they have a female figure as protagonist, both in the family and in society.
The political and social battles…
At the same time, Vivanti does not hesitate to fight openly for many political battles, such as the one for the Irish question first of all, in the wake of her husband's fervor for that cause, but also for the future of Egypt, or for recognition of Italian requests in peace negotiations at the end of World War I. In short, she is a writer engaged in politics and in the social sphere, a forerunner of the engagé writer who would explode with full force half a century later.
…always face it head on
After the First World War, Vivanti ended up settling permanently in Italy, without renouncing frequent trips to the rest of the world. She freely devotes herself to her passion for writing, while she approaches fascism, as indeed most of our intellectuals will do. The friendly relations with the Duce are known, also fueled by the aforementioned battle in support of Italian requests for peace negotiations after the First World War, and against the Anglo-American point of view. It is a position much appreciated by her regime, also given the writer's English nationality, which therefore sees her in full contrast with her mother country.
During the Second World War, however, the merits acquired were not sufficient to avoid her troubles, restrictions and annoyances, due to her British citizenship, potentially hostile to Italy, such as the forced transfer to Arezzo from Turin, where she resides. It will then be Mussolini himself who cancels her order and allows her to return to her city.
The painful sunset
EThe last year of Vivanti's life was lived in the torment of the suicide of her daughter, a world-acclaimed violonist. The writer, born into a Jewish family, will end her life with her conversion to Catholicism.
The last days of his life, hitherto rich, full, always lived as a protagonist, were very troubled. In the autumn of 1941, her daughter Vivien, who had become a great violinist acclaimed all over the world, inexplicably takes her own life in Hove, England. From this dramatic event her mother will never recover from her, and after a few months, in February 1942, at the age of 76, she follows her to her grave. A few days earlier she had converted to Catholicism.
However, the writer continues to be appreciated and read for many years after her death, and some of her titles are reprinted even today, which cannot be said of many other storytellers of those decades, proving how much her themes are still current today.
